31st January 2008

Using Technology for Building Learning Communities by Alan November

posted in leadership, literacy, web 2.0, workshops |

These are my notes from Alan November’s first presentation, “Using Technology for Building Learning Communities,” at the 2008 OU K-20 Center’s 2008 MidWinter Conference in Norman, Oklahoma. My thoughts and comments are in all caps. I am recording this session and will post as a podcast if Alan gives permission…

The smart toilet and fridge is the metaphor for what is going to happen to education
- people are going to get more information about the “patient”
- no more technology, the real revolution is the INFORMATION
- you want the information, if you get the right info at the right time, you can solve very interesting and important questions

there is going to be a shift of control
- the doctor used to control the information about your body, he/she got it
- in our story, YOU get the data first
- having data is not having knowledge
- having information about your body doesn’t mean
- more info, we need more KNOWLEDGE

for anyone worried about technology replacing teachers: we are going to need MUCH more knowledge/teachers for lifelong learners

story of a person whose doctor said DO NOT go to the Internet, you will just encounter bogus cures
- this was a situation of a person with information, but no knowledge

step 1: teach children critical thinking skills, to get the right information at the right time

[NOW ALAN IS DEMONSTRATING ADVANCED SEARCHING STRATEGIES FOR ALTAVISTA]

[ALAN JUST RECOGNIZED ME IN THE AUDIENCE. I FEEL QUITE SPECIAL. NO MATTER WHAT YOUR AGE, IT IS AFFIRMING TO BE RECOGNIZED. :-)]

continued story about woman looking for info about breast cancer

We must redefine literacy

we are sending kids out into the world where at some point, they will really need information and information processing skills
- the only definition of literacy we have in this country now is, “Can you read novels?”
- that is a good definition, but no longer sufficient
- starting in early elementary school, we must start to teach the grammar and syntax of the Internet

assuming you have really good critical thinking skills, you understand the architecture of information…
- the next thing to do is globalize the curriculum, all the way through
- the stuff you buy at Wal Mart, it’s from China
- global trade now, we are just 1 big economy now
- Americans need to get out more

Let’s say you’re reading “The Grapes of Wrath”

["GREEN GROW THE LILACS" IS A BOOK ABOUT OKLAHOMA THAT SOMEONE IN THE AUDIENCE JUST SUGGESTED, SOMEONE ELSE JUST SUGGESTED "THE OUTSIDERS" ABOUT TULSA]

First thing, go to books.google.com
- only searches for website
- first I have to know what tool in Google to use
- showing search for host:uk to find classrooms in England where students are reading “The Outsiders”
- so let’s discuss this live with students in England and in Oklahoma, because people in each place have different cultural perspectives
- do you think students would be more motivated to read the entire book if they knew they were going to be discussing it with other learners across the ocean?
- you are from Oklahoma, you are EXOTIC!

[I THINK EVEN BETTER THAN USING ALTAVISTA TO CONNECT TO OTHER TEACHERS IS USING YOUR DIGITAL PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY, AND THE TOOLS WHICH ARE AVAILABLE NOW TO CONNECT TEACHERS AND THEIR STUDENTS TO EACH OTHER]

every grade level, every content area, we are going to THINK GLOBALLY

most schools just use the INternet like it is a big encyclopedia
- that is a very low level use

most powerful use of the Internet is to connect kids to each other

1- so we have to teach people really good information processing skills

2- we have to teach kids to work with others all over the world

now let me do something a bit more controversial
- altavista search: host:ac.jpg “World War II” Hiroshima
- so those are all academic sites in English from Japan

[ALAN NEEDS TO EMPHASIZE THE CRITICAL NEED FOR TEACHERS TO HAVE JUST IN TIME SUPPORT / HAND HOLDERS ON STAFF IN ALL OUR SCHOOLS, TO HELP THEM DO THESE TYPES OF THINGS. ALL TEACHERS CANNOT DO THIS ALONE. REALLY, VERY FEW CAN

now a question about where teachers can get all these sites, is this in Alan's book?
- Alan's suggestion: delegate responsibility for finding factual answers
- so I don't answer questions anymore about facts

when you decide that children need to answer their own questions, when you reinforce this pattern of learning these information literacy skills EVERY day
- discipline of not answering all the questions

I used to evaluate teachers and give them points when they answered questions
- now if I was doing that, I would take away

we can build our own search engine, Google has that tool
- every time there is a question, it goes into our search engine

QUESTION FROM A LIBRARIAN FRUSTRATED BY 2ND GRADERS WHO CAN'T SPELL, AND THEREFORE CAN'T FIND BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY

it is my opinion that every teacher ought to have a mp3 player
- it ought to have a microphone
- you never know when you might want to record some audio
- every child needs to know how to command a global voice
- right now children write for their teachers
- that is no longer sufficient
- we need to teach children to publish for the world

now I'm going to show a video a showed yesterday, but that is ok
- Podcast Movie

I think kids ought to be producing podcasts every day

[I STARTED TO APPLAUD, SOMEONE ELSE IN THE AUDIENCE JOINED ME]

5 minutes left in Alan’s presentation

think about your school’s policy about wikipedia
- here’s my policy: starting in 3rd grade, we should teach children to submit articles to WikiPedia, that children contribute

searching WikiPedia for Pitot House
- 3 years ago a teacher said to 3rd graders, there is no article about the Pitot House
- so off they went

[I AM GOING NOW TO THE HISTORY OF THAT PAGE ON WIKIPEDIA, AS IS ALAN. THIS IS A GREAT DEMO OF A WIKI, EMBEDDED RIGHT WITHIN HIS PRESENTATION IN THE CONTEXT OF AN ENGAGING STORY. VERY WELL DONE.]

Nancy Watt is this teacher, who started this page in WikiPedia
- normally when students do an assignment and get a grade, they never go back to it
- compare that to this story

find something in Oklahoma that hasn’t been added to WikiPedia yet
- we can be afraid of WikiPedia, or we can attack it
- we can say “bad source, can’t use it” and 3rd graders can add to it

Now when kids go

i think we have a social responsibility to share knowledge, to make the world a better place
- we have hundreds of tools
- not only are you doing this for an assignment, you are also doing this to help other people understand where we live

there is too much fear in this country
- we are blocking too much, when we could be taking advantage of much of this to our advantage

My website: novemberlearning.com

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